Why does it not work for me. (First published MAY 2024)
Digital Marketing not working for you?
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‘Marketing’ is a ‘funny chap’ and even if you do it perfectly, follow every tip and spend a bazillion Rands, it can fail. Sometimes it’s just timing and you have no control over that, or people’s personal interpretation of content. EG: the Democratic Alliances May 2024 advert in which a digital flag burns is a prime example of how people can interpret a message in polar opposite ways.
Let me share a few ‘chat notes’ for you and your marketing team for the next get together.
There are cookies and then there are biscuits calling themselves cookies. When you decide to ‘do this’, do it proper. User experience is neglected almost always in the planning stages as well as the first few months of a campaign. Actually pretend you are a client and suffer through your own campaign. The same goes for websites, use your own and I promise you will find things to improve.
Test your campaigns on phones. No less than 40% of all campaigns ‘arrive’ on a cellphone, but most of us prepare and review campaigns on a PC which display things very differently.
Marketing is not like purchasing stock which can be packed on a shelf by some poor sod somewhere down the pecking order line. One of the things that has boggled my mind the most is when private clients literally tell me they do not have time to review details. Clients have to inject their businesses personality, objectives and desires into ‘all things marketing’ or it will not have the desired outcome. If you have a client that won’t offer you the light of day, fire them, because they will blame you when things go pear shaped.
So much effort goes into finding a client that once we have them we have no energy left on what to do next. Not planning what happens once a lead has been received is a major problem. The marketing team has to work with the sales and operational team in ‘a full client experience’ from lead to delivery and back again exercise.
In a day an age with PoPIA it is a miracle when a person opts in and shares their information. Not re-using data is a loss of future income. Design an actual system that can reuse valuable information time and time again, it could be as simple as an excel document or Mailchimp.
The bad apple clients, competitors and even sometimes your own team can say some nasty things about you (in some instances they might even lie) online. Clients for the most part are savvy and will check what others think about you. Regular online ‘reviews of reviews’ should be part of your internal social media strategy.
PPC (AdWords) gets immediate attention but can bankrupt your campaign if done wrong. SEO is slow but once it has momentum can cement you on the web, but stop thinking it’s a once off thing, it has to be done for all eternity. Social media is great for brand building but unless you are boosting your posts don’t expect any major ‘views’. Influencers for niche services can work really well, and you don’t need a celebrity. Email marketing still offers some of the best returns compared to anything else. Affiliate marketing, if you are entering this space as a newbie you are wasting your time.
Be aware that there are a lot of really bad tips on the internet and in books. Two fast track guidelines:
- If the author of the advice is an observer only, and has never actually made a success using the advice they are dispensing, they are not an authority and should be ignored.
- If your competitor is using a similar strategy and survived for more than six months, then it is worth trying at least once.
Know why people actually should want to follow you on social media or opt into your mailruns. Don’t be ‘borrowing’, repetitive and inconsistent with your content and for the love of cookies show some personality.
Know your competitors. I know mine almost too intimately. Some of them are even friends with me on Facebook. Once a month, I do a competitor check. I review websites, socials and check review sites. I cannot put into a paragraph how precious this insight has been on so many levels.
List ‘things’ you are prepared to be flexible with and those you are not. (Results, budget and messaging). Try keep this close to your heart and let it be a ‘filter’ you run your decisions through before you click go.
Sometimes you can shoot in the dark and hit a target, but when this happens it is exceptional luck and not what happens the majority of the time. I have worked with new ventures where one assumes there is a demand and because no research has been done, months of work and costs are expended, and at the end of the day we fail because there was simply no demand. (PS, this is not the marketing’s teams fault)
It’s hard sometimes to actually see if you are gaining ground and I have personally found this to be an emotional barrier and a source of anxiety and unhappiness. If you set some goal posts that are almost tactile, you will be able to feel the ‘g-force’ of your business.
Planning for the future. Know that ‘search’ is changing. Voice search and getting information onto things like Chat GPT-4 is something you should be working on now. I can help your business do this.
THE END.
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Who is Jean-Pierre Murray-Kline?
Jean-Pierre is a South African serial e-entrepreneur, published author, and change champion who has worked in over 300 types of industries in some capacity or another. His own online businesses have generated millions of Rands and involved sectors such as law, web & app development, events & entertainment, property, technical services, media, and tourism.
He has traveled to over 150 cities worldwide and is extremely active as a business and environmental technologist. In addition to his own projects, he researches and consults on all things online: marketing, reputation, compliance, law, and e-security, and also offers strategy workshops and scenario sessions on future thinking with a key focus on technology, the environment, and global influences.
Jean-Pierre is often asked to be a guest speaker on a variety of subjects he continuously studies and writes about.
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